Refashion: Turn long-sleeved turtle neck into ruffled t-shirt and headband

I found some cheap turtle necks this weekend at a sale, and decided to buy them and change them into t-shirts for this summer. This is a great time to buy cheap winter clothes and change them, or use winter clothes that you already have on hand before your child outgrows them!

I started by cutting off the sleeves and the turtle neck itself. To make sure you cut both sleeves evenly, cut off one sleeve, turn it over and put it on the other long sleeve and use that as a guide to cut the other sleeve.

Next, you are going to cut the new neckline. I used a small plate and traced it. Be careful not to cut it too low, since the weight of the ruffles that you are going to attach will pull it down a little further.

Next, zigzag the edges of the new sleeves, I used stitch length 1. The sleeves will end up looking 'curly' like they are in the picture.

Then, use one of the sleeves you cut off, and cut it into strips. My strips were just a little narrower than an inch. You will probably need 3 or 4 strips.

Next, using a straight stitch, the longest one you have, stitch straight down the middle of the strips. Gather the strips, so that a ruffle is formed. Pin the ruffled strips onto the shirt, so that they overlap one another.

Sew the ruffle onto the t-shirt with a straight stitch. (I used length 2)

And the shirt is done!

Next, we're going to make this cute headband using the neck of the shirt... (Can't let anything go to waste, can we?!)

In order to make the flower, find a strip of fabric, about 3 inches wide and 16 inches long. Fold it and sew with the longest straight stitch on your machine. Then, pull the strings at the ends to gather the fabric, as shown in the picture below.

Roll up till your flower has a shape you like, tucking in the ruffled ends.

Then, sew by hand to create the flower.

Next, sew the 2 edges of the turtle neck together, and turn that to the inside of the headband. Attach the flower to the headband (you can sew it or pin it so that you can change it later) and you're done.